On November 1, 2016, at a distance of only 77,000 km from our planet, a space block flew by – the asteroid 2016 VA. The cosmic body was noticed just a few hours before the closest approach to the Earth.
Asteroid 2016 VA came closest to our planet at 8:32 pm EDT on November 1 (00:32 GMT on November 2), according to astronomers from the Minor Planet Center (MPC) in Cambridge, USA. Considering that the distance to the Moon is 385,000 km, the asteroid flew very close to the Earth’s surface.
Despite the fact that the dimensions of the ‘stone’, according to the observations of MPC scientists, turned out to be relatively small – from 7 to 22 meters wide, given the speed of its flight (77 thousand km / h), a collision with the Earth could lead to unpleasant consequences or even the victims.
2016 VA was discovered just a few hours before the closest approach to our planet. Researchers are increasingly alarmed by the fact that unexpected encounters with asteroids in close orbit are not uncommon. It is believed that out of millions of such cosmic bodies in the vicinity of the Earth, scientists have managed to find only fifteen thousand.
Sources: Space
